Associated PressGerald Wallace seemed to be all over the place for the Blazers, including providing some tough late defense on LeBron James.

The worst seats at AmericaAirlines Arena on Tuesday had to be the ones behind the Trail Blazers bench.

How many times did Portland players -- starters and bench-warmers alike -- stand to wave towels, hoot and holler during the Blazers' 105-96 victory over the Heat?

And did anyone on the Heat bench, other than coach Erik Spoelstra, ever stand up during play?

It was quite a day in Miami for the Blazers, starting with the news that coach Nate McMillan had signed a two-year extension to stay with the team through the 2012-13 season. Then came the game, which had quite the national spotlight as it came with the Heat in the midst of the four-game losing streak.

The Associated Press spent the first three paragraphs of its game story on the Heat's struggles and fifth straight defeat before getting to LaMarcus Aldridge's 26 points and Gerald Wallace's 22.

The local media in Miami? The theme was, what's wrong with the Heat? Why was Chris Bosh so ineffective? How can Miami snap out of the funk?

What Spoelstra, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James neglected to mention was this: The Blazers played an excellent game, right up there with the home wins over San Antonio and Chicago (two of the winning team's in the Heat's losing streak, by the way) for best of the season.

The difference between the victory over Miami and the wins over the Spurs and Bulls is that Tuesday's win did not require a super-human effort from Aldridge, who had 40 and 42 points in the other wins.

The Blazers got contributions from up and down the roster, with Wallace showing why the Blazers so coveted him, and Andre Miller, Wesley Matthews and Brandon Roy all making key fourth-quarter shots.

Suddenly, this season, and the postseason, look completely different. The Blazers suddenly have depth, with two recent All-Stars coming off the bench, while retaining Aldridge as a first option.

Other notes, tidbits and links:

• The Blazers are starting to buy into McMillan's message of team first over individual desires, and the united locker room enjoys a college-like celebration after the win, The Oregonian's Jason Quick reports. • Saying Portland is where he wants to be, McMillan signs a two-year extension, allowing him to continue his coaching evolution that has taken him from being "Sarge" to the "ultimate adoptor," Quick reports. • One nice thing about McMillan sticking around at least another two seasons is that he will have a chance to get his record with the Blazers above .500. After last night's win, he is 235-239 with Portland, and needs a 11-7 finish to get to .500 for the first time since his first Blazers team, in 2005-06, was 3-3. He's never had a winning overall record at Blazers coach.

• Tuesday's win gave the Blazers a seven-game road winning streak, their longest since the 1990-91 season, when the Blazers won nine road games in a row late in the season. The current streak, while impressive, needs a little perspective as it has taken more than a month to accumulate and started with four games before the All-Star break.

The '91 streak, on the other hand, was part of a 16-game overall winning streak the Blazers closed with before losing their final regular season game. That was the Rick Adelman-coached team, with Clyde Drexler, Terry Porter, Buck Williams, Jerome Kersey and Kevin Duckworth, that won a franchise-record 63 regular season games.

That team also had an 11-game win streak to start the season as well as streaks of eight, seven and five wins, but lost to the Lakers in six games in the Western Conference Finals.

• Miami's Chris Bosh -- the third member of the so-called big three -- had seven points and shot 3 for 11 from the field. Bosh has been chosen to six All-Star Games, while Aldridge has not played in any, but the Miami Herald's Israel Gutierrez makes clear which power forward he considers superior, writing:

Bosh has spent the majority of the season nowhere near the low post.
Part of it is because he is not the physical presence that someone like
Aldridge is. Bosh looked entirely overmatched while trying to defend
Aldridge once Spoelstra decided to go small in the fourth quarter.

• I wrote yesterday about the Blazers' cool shooting since the All-Star break. So much for that. The Blazers shot 50.6 percent from the field against the Heat, ending a run of seven consecutive games in which they were below 50 percent.

Portland also shot 41.2 percent on three-pointers, led by Roy's 3-for-3 effort.

The Blazers also had just nine turnovers, their fourth straight game of 10 turnovers or less -- all wins, of course.

On NBA-TV, Kevin McHale summed up the Blazers' offense this way: "The Portland Trail Blazers continued to make the right play and the simple play all night long."

• Wallace's breakthrough game -- in addition to 22 points, he had nine rebounds, two steals and a block and provided tough late defense on James -- came before he returns to Charlotte on Friday to play the Bobcats, who traded him to the Blazers just minutes before the Feb. 24 trade deadline.

The Bobcats might hold a tribute to Wallace before the game, the Charlotte Observer's Rick Bonnell reports. Bonnell adds that Wallace's No. 3 figures to be the first number the seven-year-old franchise retires.

The Blazers easily beat Charlotte 93-69 at the Rose Garden on Saturday, but the task could be tougher Friday. Bonnell reports that leading scorer Stephen Jackson (hamstring) and forward Tyrus Thomas (left knee) both could play Wednesday against Chicago, meaning they could be available against the Blazers, too.